The Nature of My Game
by San Antonio Rose
Summary: The only devil driving Brady to kill Jess was drug addiction. So how far will Sam go in revenge to bring down El Diablo and the cartel that supplied Brady's drugs—and at what cost will he ignore Dean's advice? (All-human AU; warning for drugs, off-screen sex [Sam/Ruby], and non-graphic depictions of murder)


The Nature of My Game  
By San Antonio Rose

"Tonight," Ruby whispered as she pushed the needle into Sam's hip. "Tonight you make them pay."

"Yes," Sam whispered back. "Tonight the Mendoza cartel goes down."

She pressed the plunger on the syringe, and he kissed her hungrily.

* * *

Four years earlier, Sam had been just a regular pre-law student at Stanford. He had had big plans to propose to his girlfriend, Jess, over the summer, and he'd had high hopes that his best friend, Brady, was clean enough to be in the wedding party. Dean would be his best man, of course, but Brady would be—what, second-best man? That is, as long as he hadn't fallen off the wagon. Jess had never been sure that Brady had quit the drugs and alcohol like he said he had, but Sam had been optimistic.

Too optimistic, as it turned out. Sam had left town for a few days for a law school interview and some down time with Dean and returned to Palo Alto to find that Brady had broken in, stolen everything of value, and brutally murdered Jess. Brady had then fenced everything for drug money and, intentionally or not, promptly overdosed and died.

Sam had very nearly gone after Brady's dealer himself. Dean had talked him out of it. See, Dean had been a Marine and knew what it was like to kill a man; then he was a PI who believed in working within the law when he could, and he knew that just taking out the dealer wouldn't save nearly enough lives. Somehow, between them, they had come up with the idea of working with the Feds to go up the pipeline and take down the cartel that had supplied the drugs in the first place. Dean stayed stateside, working with Victor Henricksen of the FBI and various other agents with the DEA, while Sam went undercover to infiltrate the cartels.

His first contact had been a dealer from Chicago named Meg. It had taken a couple of years and a lot of close calls for him to shut down the operation she was running with her father, who went by the codename _Ojos Amarillo_. They'd been the ones to get Brady into drugs in the first place. But Ojos Amarillo wasn't a kingpin, and he'd let everyone know it. His boss, he'd claimed, was _El Diablo_—but he wouldn't give up any more information than that. Sam and Dean had still been trying to work out how to proceed when a blonde named Ruby approached Sam and offered to get him into a cartel that was a rival to El Diablo's. The brothers had fought over it, naturally, and Dean had talked Sam into giving up on the plan for the time being. Instead, they had done what they could to investigate the cartel Ruby had named to them, run by Lily Mendoza, from the States.

That lasted until the Mendoza cartel kidnapped Dean.

Ruby'd dyed her hair and undergone plastic surgery by the time she found Sam again, but she repeated her offer to help Sam infiltrate the cartel run by Mendoza's enemy, Luciano Cordova. Unable to think of another way to save Dean, Sam agreed. They ran some low-level ops together to get in the door, but then Sam found himself stymied in his attempts to gain the Cordova cartel's confidence. There was one job Cordova wanted done—a hit on a Mendoza enforcer—that Sam couldn't quite bring himself to do for the better part of a month.

Then, one night after he and Ruby had gone out for a drink and a dance, Sam was feeling better than he had in a long time as he walked her home... but they turned a corner just in time to see the man Sam was supposed to kill and two of his henchmen backing a kid into a wall. Burning rage flooded through Sam, and before he knew what he was doing, he charged down the alley and killed all three of the Mendoza men. Ruby sent the kid to take the news to a Cordova contact and then pulled Sam away for an... energetic victory celebration.

Not until the buzz wore off did it finally register with Sam that he'd just killed three men.

Ruby did her best to soothe his conscience by pointing out that he'd saved the kid's life. But Sam couldn't figure out why he would have snapped like that or why it had taken him so long to feel any remorse over it. Finally, he thought back to the club beforehand, to the way his drink had made him feel... and he realized she'd dosed him with something.

"It's called Demon Blood," Ruby confessed when he confronted her about it, showing him the vial of red liquid she'd been carrying in her purse. "It's still pretty experimental, but the idea is that it doesn't just give you a high; it makes you stronger."

"Like PCP," Sam shot back, crossing his arms.

"No, _safer_ than PCP. You don't need as much, and you don't lose control."

"So you roofied me with this stuff and then led me to that alley, is that it?"

"No! Sam, I'm hurt that you'd even suggest such a thing! I spiked your drink because you weren't enjoying yourself. I had no idea we'd run into the Mendoza guys afterward."

He huffed and turned away.

"Hey." She came up behind him and rubbed his back. "You've got your foot in Cordova's door. You're that much closer to taking down the Mendozas. Just think of how many lives you're saving by doing this."

"I don't want to do drugs myself, Ruby. Dean would kill me if he found out."

"Dean's not here," she purred in his ear. "And the sooner we get you into Cordova's good graces, the sooner you can break the Mendozas and rescue Dean."

He turned back to her, and she kissed him. Her lips were warm and soft—and wet, he realized too late as the Demon Blood began to take effect. He gasped and pulled back. "Dammit, Ruby—"

"Shhhh." She kissed him again. "Just give it a try. It's totally safe. You'll see."

He had no choice now but to let the drug run its course. But he had to admit, however much of it she'd smeared on her lips, it did make him feel pretty damn amazing—better than he had since Dean's disappearance, maybe better than he had since before Jess died. And it did make sex with Ruby all the more exciting.

A few days later, Cordova sent Sam instructions for another job. Ruby talked him into putting a couple of drops of Demon Blood in his beer before he carried them out. As a result, he got in, made the kill, and got out long before the cops could arrive, and when Ruby congratulated him, he felt like he could take on the whole world single-handed. By summer's end, Sam was firmly ensconced in the Cordova organization, and he had Ruby and Demon Blood to thank for it.

And then Dean came back.

How he'd gotten out of the Mendozas' clutches was anybody's guess, but he was beyond ticked when he found out what Sam was up to. He dragged Sam back to the States and made him swear that he'd give up the Demon Blood. But Ruby slipped some into his gear. Although he managed to save Dean's life once without it when a Mendoza underling got the drop on them, he'd barely had the nerve to pull the trigger. So when an attempt to interrogate Dean's former captor, Alastair, went sideways and left Dean in the hospital, Sam took a few milliliters of Demon Blood before going to track Alastair down—and ended up killing the torture-master with his bare hands. After that, he was off the wagon, though he took care to hide it and his renewed contact with Ruby from Dean. She even talked him into injecting the drug into his hip to hide it more easily.

Dean found out, of course. He was too good of an investigator not to. But when he tried to lock Sam up and make him detox right when they were on the brink of finding Lily Mendoza herself, Ruby not only busted him out but recommended increasing his dosage. Dean caught up with them, and Sam nearly put him back in the hospital. Even high, though, he could never kill his brother, so he managed to stop.

"You can't keep me from doing this, Dean," he said on his way out the door. "I'll stop El Diablo and avenge Jess if it's the last thing I do."

Dean tried to call him back, but Sam paid him no heed. Ruby was waiting to take him to Mexico.

"Cordova says there's a big meeting tomorrow night in an abandoned convent," she told him once they got to Tijuana. "All the higher-ups in the cartel will be there, including Lily. He wants you to take care of it."

"How many?" he asked.

"Probably twenty, maybe more."

"Who's going with me?"

"Just me, and I'm not exactly backup. This is your last test. Cordova wants to let you into the inner circle, but he wants to be sure of your loyalty and your strength. I'm to get you to Lily herself, but beyond that, you're on your own."

He found his palms sweating. His last dose of Demon Blood had worn off hours ago, and he'd never tried to take on twenty people on his own before.

"You can do it," she purred. "I've brought enough to see you through."

He kissed her gratefully.

* * *

Sam didn't know how much Ruby had injected him with in their pre-assault playtime. To be honest, he didn't really care. He felt stronger and faster than ever before, and he was ready to take the Mendozas down for good. But it was probably a good thing Ruby was driving, since he would probably break the gas pedal trying to get the car to go faster.

Taking down the guards outside was a snap—literally. He relished the feeling of breaking each man's neck. Next, Ruby guided him into the convent, to the chapel where the meeting was going down. His rage built and built until she gave him the signal to go in. Then he kicked down the doors, and a red haze descended over his sight as he strode in like an avenging angel. He was scarcely aware of the men and women he ripped apart as he made his way toward Lily, who was standing in front of the altar taunting him. He didn't stop moving until he was holding her pressed against the altar, sneering into her laughing face.

"Here's for my girlfriend," he snarled and plunged his knife into her chest.

She grunted but then chuckled. "My regards to Papá," she choked out before he twisted the knife and pulled it out, killing her.

His moment of satisfaction faded as her body hit the floor, replaced by confusion. What had she meant by those last words? Then he turned to leave and caught sight of one of the other bodies he'd left behind.

It was Amanda Marcus, one of the DEA agents who'd been working with Henricksen. And she looked like she'd been mauled by some wild beast.

Looking around, he recognized several other faces as Feds. All dead, all at his hand. And that was when Sam realized that El Diablo hadn't been Lily Mendoza. El Diablo was Luciano Cordova.

Suddenly sickened, he let the knife fall out of his hand. What the hell had he done?

Ruby sauntered in, grinning and brandishing her phone. "I just called Papá. He'll be here soon; he wants to congratulate you in person."

Sam stared at her. "Papá?"

She laughed. "You had no idea, did you? Lily was my sister, and we were supposed to set up distribution for Demon Blood and another new drug, Croatoan. But we needed help to get the Feds off Papá's trail and get the Mendozas out of the way. Papa heard about you and your brother and thought you'd be useful. So once Lily took over the Mendozas, he had me lead you to them! And you fell for it!" She laughed again. "I am _awesome!_"

"She was your sister?!"

"And she'd been suicidal for a long time—Marco Mendoza was her boyfriend, but he beat her so bad she lost her baby. Papá promised he'd have her killed to help avert suspicion!"

The Demon Blood high was wearing off fast, but Sam still made a grab for his knife. Ruby was faster, though, and kicked it away. "Face it, Sam, you're in too deep now. Papá wants you in the family, as his right hand, and he's gonna reward you so richly, you can't even imagine."

"But you _poisoned_ me!"

"Oh, come on! You know you wanted to kill the Mendozas even without the Demon Blood. It was all about your own choices. And now I know you'll never choose to kill me."

"Maybe not," came Dean's voice from somewhere nearby. "But I will." Then there was a shot, and Ruby fell dead.

"Dean?!" Sam called, hating the way his voice shook.

Dean ran up to him. "I gotcha, little brother. Let's get out of here."

"D-Dean... how..."

"Jimmy Castellan, the guy who rescued me. Finally got the Mendozas off his trail long enough to get word to me. There was another set of code names—Lily was 'Lilith,' and 'Lucifer'—"

"Luciano Cordova." Sam couldn't hold back the tears as Dean pulled him out of the chapel. "I... I d-d-d-didn't know what I was doing, Dean, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

"I got a wire on. Henricksen says he'll cut you a deal if you spill everything you know about the Cordovas."

"Yeah. Yeah. Look, Victor, L-Luciano's... on his way here... n-n-now's a good time to... to pick him up and raid his house." Sam rattled off as much of the directions as he knew.

"He says they're on it. Federales were already on their way here anyway. But we gotta move, Sammy."

Sam nodded and ran with Dean as best he could. They barely managed to get away from the convent before Cordova's caravan could arrive.

"I'll go to rehab," he promised tearfully as they sped toward the border. "I'll work with DARE. I'll do anything, Dean, I _swear_."

"Won't bring those agents back," Dean replied, stonefaced.

"I know. Nothing will. I just... I gotta redeem myself somehow. Gotta... gotta..." Sam's mouth didn't want to work anymore. Neither did his brain.

Dean softened a little and reached over to squeeze the back of Sam's neck. "We'll figure it out, Sam. We'll figure it out."


End file.
